swan song
by elphyse
Summary: if you want something, go and get it, or die trying.
1. Chapter 1

Ten times she had sung, and ten times she had died.

In the eyes of the reaper, all were equal. What each person did in life mattered not when they were buried six feet underground – but no one had ever sung quite as beautifully as she did, not when they were faced with the terror of knowing _this_ was their final moment. For that, he remembered her.

If he had to choose one type of soul to reap for the rest of eternity, he would pick those of artists and musicians. In both life and death, their souls were like spun glass. Delicate, beautiful, ephemeral.

She was no exception to that. Every mortal was transient, their lives flitting past him in less than the blink of an eye, but humans were capable of creating and leaving their legacies behind on earth, a story that would exist even long after they were gone. The great mortal musicians, artists, writers and bards, they all got their names and their very selves immortalised in the history of mankind.

He wondered if she too would someday carve out her name among the greats. Ten times she had sung; ten times she had died. Perhaps the eleventh time would be different.

* * *

Hatsune Miku couldn't remember the last time she felt truly happy. Precious, fleeting moments of joy – the sound of laughter, a baby's first gurgle, the triumph of accomplishing a long-held goal – these all fluttered past her on butterfly wings. When she grasped for them, the thin silky wisps would brush past her fingers, and her hands closed on nothing but empty air.

The window of her room opened into a vast sky that was constantly obscured by thick clouds, throwing a shadow over everything else in the valley. In the middle of the day, the occasional thin stream of sunlight would pierce through the suffocating blanket and illuminate parts of the town, but otherwise the streets, the trees, the pavement, everything was grey.

Sometimes, her teal hair would glimmer when those weak beams of sunlight struck it. That was the only spark of colour in an otherwise dull world. She yearned to be elsewhere, to be far away from here, somewhere she wouldn't feel so…_heavy_. There was a weight on her chest and her shoulders, and while she couldn't quite describe it to anyone else, she knew she didn't like it, and she didn't want to be here.

Veldemore was all she knew. This place was where she was born, where she had grown up, and in all likelihood where she would die. It was a dreary town with dry inhabitants, and the streets grew deserted at night. The only thing of any importance here was schooling. Grades and studies, things that could help them progress, these were what mattered. Science and facts were _the _currency in Veldemore, and the performing arts and humanities were outlawed.

But if science and math were so important, and they were what was necessary to achieve a better life like what the Kapitol said, then why did she feel so unwilling? She ought to be more excited about going to school, but day in, day out, when the alarm clock rang each morning all she could feel was dread.

Waking up felt like a death sentence. She would rather huddle in her room and plug in her old earpiece into the tape player her best friend had given her for her fifteenth birthday before he disappeared a few months later. Miku would listen to the tapes she so carefully collected, closing her eyes as she lost herself in the music and the beautiful singing that seemed so _otherworldly_. The melodies spoke to her of an entirely different universe – a world where she too could join them, be a part of them.

These tapes were her deepest, darkest secret, perhaps more precious than her life itself. She took great pains to hide them from her parents, shoving them in a hidden cavity she dug under a loose floorboard. She had begged and pleaded for a rug in her room precisely so she could hide the floorboard, and her parents had finally given her a threadbare, ratty carpet after she came in among the top ten in class.

But there were rumours that left her uneasy. People whispered that the Kapitol had developed some sort of new technology that would enable them to listen in on previously _safe_ gadgets like earpieces, which normally wouldn't be connected to any sort of wireless network. Miku wasn't sure if those rumours were true or not; still, she kept a tight hold on her older model, reluctant to exchange it for a new one although one side of the earpiece was no longer functioning.

There was a deadline by which everyone was supposed to surrender their old earpieces, and it was fast approaching. She wasn't sure what to do. She wished her best friend was here so he could give her advice. It had been three years since he left, and she still wondered where he had gone.

Looking out of the window again, this time she directed her gaze towards the rugged peak which towered over the rest of their small town. It was a distance away from the town outskirts, but the mountain was so tall that it was still very much visible. It was dark now, but once in a while when the sun shone it would reflect off a hint of gold that nestled way up in the cloud-shrouded peak.

The mountain housed Elysia, the golden city where the wealthiest citizens of Veldemore lived. She had only ever heard stories about what the city looked like. People said that everything was made of pure, solid gold and diamonds, and milk and honey ran through the streets. There were large gardens filled with exotic blooms and fauna, and everyone lived in giant mansions that could touch the surface of the moon. The citizens of the gated community were said to be fair and delicate; a single touch could bruise them and a push would break their bones. Underneath their skin, blue blood flowed through their veins.

But these were all just stories. No one knew for sure whether all the rumours were true. The only thing that was known for sure was that the mountain was guarded by the Red Men, ruthlessly efficient elite soldiers who only listened to the Kapitol. The presence of the Red Men made it impossible for anyone to ever lay eyes on Elysia, for they had orders to turn away anyone unworthy of ascending the peak.

Some said that the Red Men did far more than just turn people away, but again that was a rumour no one could verify. Those who returned from attempting to climb the mountain usually refused to say a single word about their experiences. And there were some who never returned at all.

Still, those rumours did not stop her, or anyone else for that matter, from wondering what life could be like at the very top. The Kapitol encouraged everyone to aim for Elysia. The way to become elite, they said, was through studying and hard work. They were a meritocratic nation, and rewards would come to those who worked hard and became the very best at what they did.

And so people threw themselves into the possibility of escaping their dull, impoverished lives. They worked, schmoozed, bribed, begged their ways into esteemed institutions and establishments, taking on prestigious careers in medicine, science or engineering. Architects, builders, teachers – all these were respectable jobs too, work that helped build a foundation for a thriving, successful society.

But Miku, she was not gifted in math or science. Concepts and theories slipped past her like water dripping from cupped palms. She dreaded completing her assignments, sitting at her table and trying to revise and study until her vision went blurry and the government-provided lights turned dim. She wanted no part in this frantic rat race; this was not the kind of life she desired.

She turned away from the window, quietly humming a familiar song. She had played it on repeat the past month whenever she had a chance to listen to her music tapes. It was a song by Megurine Luka, apparently one of the most popular singers in Elysia, or so the black market trader claimed. Elysia was the only place in Veldemore where _useless_ things like the arts thrived. Only the wealthy could afford to idle their time away, wasting it on unproductive things like music and drawing.

Miku had saved up for an entire year in order to purchase the illegally-recorded music tapes on the black market. The quality of the music was tinny, and she had to discard some of her old tapes from her hidden cranny to make space for Megurine Luka's tapes, but it was well worth it. Luka had a beautiful voice that somehow resonated within her. It was as though the singer was singing not at her, but _to _her. The price she paid was worth it to escape into a few moments of bliss in an otherwise monotonous life.

Her laptop suddenly pinged, and she perked up, getting off her bed. The floorboards creaked as she walked carefully across the room, making sure to avoid the bucket she had placed in the middle – water continuously leaked from the ceiling, and the bucket was half-full now. She would have to pour out the bucket soon. In her shabby little room with its Spartan walls and moth-bitten curtains, the only thing that looked sleek and shiny and _new_ was her laptop, issued by the state to help further every child's education and give them a fighting chance at succeeding in life.

Miku mostly used her laptop to chat with her friends online, which admittedly wasn't the main purpose of the laptop, but she didn't like to think about the many incomplete assignments she had piling up in her hard drive. She tapped on the touchpad, smiling wistfully when she saw her desktop wallpaper – it was a picture of herself with her best friend from back when they were kids, still innocent and happy.

Checking her laptop notifications, she saw that she had received an email from her teacher, reminding them to complete their assignment due next week. She sighed. This just made her think about how she was only halfway done with the worksheet, and she really didn't want to pull out her textbooks again just to answer a bunch of questions she had absolutely no interest in. She wanted to listen to people sing and watch them dance, like the butterflies that came to the public garden every few months or so.

The last time she tried to dance in front of anyone besides herself, her mother slapped her and told her to stop in an anguished, terrified whisper so guttural that Miku never tried anything like that again.

Sitting at her creaky wooden chair, she opened up her incomplete assignment and sighed again. The next question glared up at her, demanding and incomprehensible. Maybe she ought to just start on this tomorrow when she was back in school and she could at least ask Teto for help. Teto's cousin, Kasane Ted, was really smart and he always helped them out with their work when he could spare the time.

Minimising the worksheet, she decided to finally sort through her emails – her unread mails had been piling up for a while, and she finally could no longer stand her messy inbox. Most of the emails were from school, but once in a while, she received email notifications about friends' posts on Kluk. And of course, there were the standard shopping newsletters showing her things she could not afford.

Not like she wanted most of the things she saw online anyway. Everything was controlled by the Kapitol, so whatever was being sold never included the things she liked – no music, no theatre performances, no dance recitals, nothing. It was just page after page of basic necessities. Even the clothes were boring. They were usually just dull, plain blouses or jeans or the occasional fancier dress, but nothing inspiring.

As she scrolled up through her mail, methodically sorting out the important things from the marketing spam, she came across an email bulletin that made her pause. Normally, she would just scan quickly through the bulletin and then send it to her trash folder, but this time one of the short headlines caught her eye. She glanced at the date this email was sent. This morning, 11.20AM. Just an hour ago.

"_Missing boy found at the base of Elysia Peak_", the bulletin proclaimed. There was a grainy picture of the boy in question, but the quality of the photo was so bad that she could hardly even make out people inside, let alone a recognisable face. This particular piece of news was at the very end of the bulletin, almost as though it was tacked on as an afterthought. Shouldn't it occupy a higher position? This was about a _missing person_, after all. But then again, so many people disappeared in Veldemore each year.

She opened the online article. It was written by a Kapitol journalist, so it was easy to read. There were some people who tried to do freelance journalism but with the lack of focus on language in school, more often than not their grammar was terrible, and it was hard to decipher what they were writing. In school, only the ones who truly excelled in science and math were given the opportunity to take writing classes. Becoming a Kapitol journalist was one way to get a comfortable life. Few could make it that far.

Miku was only able to read and write well because she enjoyed reading, and actually made it a point to read all her textbooks even if she didn't understand the theories very well. She eventually progressed to other non-fiction books, borrowing once a month from their small library. Kapitol enforced a borrowing limit of four books per month so that people wouldn't get distracted from the more important things.

But given her unpredictable academic record in school, it was unlikely she would ever become a Kapitol journalist. She sped through the article, trying to find information on who the missing boy was. Even now she still harboured a faint glimmer of hope, that perhaps her long-lost best friend was back. But the article provided little information besides saying he was a teenage boy, found unconscious by patrolling members of the Red Men. She bit her lip, reading through the article over and over again in the hopes of somehow extracting some unread, valuable information, but eventually, she gave up her perusal.

It was unlikely he was someone she recognised, anyway. She scolded herself for still maintaining such unreasonable hopes. Her best friend was but one of the thousands who went missing without explanation every year – this newly-found boy's family was very fortunate. Few people who left ever came back.

But her spirits felt dampened nevertheless. There were a few soft taps on her window, water droplets sliding down the dirty glass. The clouds were darkening. Getting up from her table, she switched off the one light she had in her room, burrowing underneath her thin blanket. There was little else she could do to pass the time, and she hoped that when she opened her eyes, a new day would come.


	2. Chapter 2

When she went to school this morning, the news about the boy appeared to have travelled. Everyone was talking about it – even her friends, who normally didn't pay much attention to the news bulletins.

Despite all the whispers, however, no one really knew who he was. There were all kinds of speculation – that the boy was an outcast member of the Elysian elite, or that he was a Kapitol defector, or that he was from another country altogether, perhaps a traveller from the other side of the globe.

When people asked Miku for her theory about his origins, she said that he was probably just a boy who wandered a little too close to the dense woods near Veldemore, and he was fortunate enough to make it back out alive. But most people found her theory too boring, and they stopped asking for her opinion.

"I heard he's still recuperating in the hospital in District L. They say he hasn't opened his eyes yet," her good friend, Nakajima Gumi, announced during lunch. Their catered meal for today was shredded chicken porridge, and it was actually pretty decent. Given that the school cafeteria usually served food that couldn't even be called subpar, this made a nice change.

"And how do you know all this?" Gumi's twin brother, Gumo, rolled his eyes and stirred his piping hot bowl of porridge. Steam gently wafted from the surface, clouding up his glasses. "It's not like you're a Kapitol journalist. They haven't released any news about him either, so what are your sources?"

"I have my own sources!" Gumi defended herself, placing her hands on her hips. "You don't need to try and question me all the time," she continued, shooting Miku a glance. Miku nodded absentmindedly, digging into her food. She had been hungry all morning. Since she ended up oversleeping, she had to rush to school without her breakfast, and she made a mental note to set an alarm in the future.

Gumo just snorted. "Your source being Lily and whatever she decided to tell you, I bet," he retorted, earning a sharp glare from his sister. Masuda Lily was the daughter of a reputable scientist who was said to have close ties with the Kapitol-controlled news press – but Lily also had a bit of a reputation for exaggerating things, so it was best to take whatever she said with a pinch of salt.

"Miku, can you just stop _eating_ and back me up on this!" Gumi exclaimed. The twins were becoming decidedly louder, and they were attracting some looks of curiosity from the rest of the cafeteria. Miku thought that she ought to say something to defuse the situation before the twins got into a physical fight and she ended up somehow implicated in their argument.

"I'm just curious about what he looks like," she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Gumi and Gumo both stared at her – evidently, whatever intervention Gumi had in mind, it certainly wasn't this. Miku smiled awkwardly. "Well, the picture attached in the bulletin was really blurry so I couldn't make out anything," she continued.

"Oh, that's true," Gumi mused. Miku let out a quiet sigh of relief, glad that she had managed to distract the hot-headed, temperamental girl. "We don't even know how old he is exactly, right? Just that he's a teenager, but that could be anywhere between thirteen to nineteen. Give us some real information!"

"They probably just want to protect the poor guy from thirsty hoes like you," Gumo sniped. Gumi glared at him again but thankfully, this time she didn't take the bait. The twins were always at each other's throats, and it was difficult to tell whether they loved or detested each other.

"Gumo, you should be careful about using that kind of language here," Miku chided softly. "You know what the teachers are like. If they overhear you and realise you've been watching non-educational videos, you might get into a whole lot of trouble."

"It's not like there are any teachers in the cafeteria right now," Gumo shrugged, looking defensive. "And even if there were, they can't hear individual conversations through all this stupid background noise. We can't just let the Kapitol dictate everything we do, you know," he lowered his voice, leaning closer to the both of them so that they could hear him.

"No, we can't," Miku agreed. "But even so we still need to be careful," she thought back to the last time she had seen her elder brother. She was very young then, maybe four or five years old. One day, two men wearing full-black suits appeared at the door and took her brother away. She never saw him again after that, and from then on her parents were incredibly protective of her, never allowing her to do anything that might anger the Kapitol.

"Okay, fine," Gumo huffed. "You're just like an old woman, you know. The way you go on and on about things is unbelievable," he averted his gaze, narrowing his emerald eyes at the cafeteria table. "What's the next class we have, by the way?" he changed the topic, spooning more porridge into his mouth.

"Math," Gumi replied, checking her phone. "And speaking of our next class, we really should hurry up and go before we're late," she elbowed her twin, who quickly shovelled down the rest of his porridge. The twins then got up from their table and waved goodbye to Miku, hurrying out of the cafeteria. She waved back, slowly savouring her lunch. Her class was much closer to the cafeteria than theirs, so she still had a little time to spare before she needed to prepare for her next lesson.

Tapping on the Kluk app in her phone, she scrolled listlessly through her feed as she ate her food, her eyes scanning quickly past shared articles, jokes and news updates. But her mind was distracted, and finally, she went to the search bar, her fingers trembling slightly. Maybe someone who had been at the scene yesterday finally stepped up and said something, though that was unlikely. Or perhaps the hospital where the boy was recuperating had finally released a statement about this entire issue? No matter what it was, it probably wouldn't hurt to check for more news about the found boy.

Running a quick search on Kluk, she saw that hundreds of people were all talking about him online, the same few rumours she had heard in school repeating themselves all over the app. She found the social media version of the online bulletin and decided to trawl through the comments just in case.

As she sifted through rumour after rumour, attempting to discover something new, she noticed that she had received a new message on Kluk. She hesitated. If her phone did not vibrate and notify her that she had a new message in her Kluk inbox, that meant the message was from a stranger. She wasn't sure if she wanted to accept the message request and read it.

The last time she opened a message from a stranger, she ended up seeing something she would really rather have not seen. Ever since then, she was very careful about opening messages from unknown people. But her curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to accept the message request.

The message was from someone called Kagamine Len. There was no profile picture, and when Miku tried to view the profile, she couldn't find any information. There were no other pictures, no posts, no friends list – it was just a completely blank profile with a name on it, and this made her suspicious. So, she decided to take a look at the message itself. "_Have you seen the news about the found boy?_"

That was the only thing the message said. No greetings or introductions, just that one short question. She frowned. Now this was a little rude, wasn't it? But any discussion about this topic interested her, and she decided there was probably no harm in replying. "_Yes, I saw_." She typed out the response and left it like that, not expecting a reply from the other party anytime soon.

But to her surprise, the little circle beside the person's blank profile picture turned green, indicating that the stranger had come online. Three dots appeared on her screen, and she waited for them to finish typing what they wanted to say. The message popped up. "_I know everything there is to know about him. If you want to find out more, meet me outside the school gate after classes end._"

Her frown deepened. This had to be some stupid prank. Did a random stranger on Kluk really think she would be willing to meet them just because they brought up a topic everyone was interested in? She was curious, but not _that _curious. Just as she got ready to type a polite "no", another message appeared on her screen. "_I can tell you what happened to Mikuo too if you really want to know_."

She froze. Mikuo? That was the name of her missing older brother. How did this stranger know who Mikuo was? In the past, when she tried to find more information about the brother she hardly knew, there was nothing about him online – it was as though he didn't even exist. She later found out that whenever the Kapitol took people away, they also removed every single trace of them online.

If this stranger knew of Mikuo's existence, then that meant they probably knew each other before the incident, because there was _no other way_ this person could possibly know about him. She had to find out more – she had to know what happened to Mikuo after the Kapitol took him away from them. Was there any chance he might still be alive? Her family never managed to find out what happened to him, and she was aware that this lack of information was her parents' sole regret.

She had to know. "_All right, I'll meet you after school at the gate._" Right after the message was sent, the mysterious stranger went offline, the little green circle turning grey. She hoped she wouldn't regret her decision.

* * *

Miku couldn't help but feel like she was committing a crime, sneaking around the school's exterior like this. She could only hope that none of the teachers would catch her and ask what she was doing.

She was skulking around because she didn't want any of her friends to see her and decide to follow her. Of course, she knew it would be safer to meet a stranger while being accompanied by her friends, but if the conversation was going to centre around her missing brother, then she didn't want anyone else to be there. This was a deeply private family matter, and she didn't want other people to know about it.

It had been ten minutes since she first began waiting. She fidgeted, hiding behind the shrubbery, hoping that no one had noticed her. She didn't even know who she was waiting for or what the person looked like, but she was hoping to see _someone_ soon. She checked her messages again.

No, the location wasn't wrong – this _was_ outside the school gate. Or maybe she was at the wrong part of the gate? Did the stranger mean the back gate? She shifted her weight from her right foot to her left, her fingers tapping nervously against her thigh. Perhaps she should go and check the back gate, just in case she had gotten the meeting point wrong. Bending slightly, she picked up her canvas backpack, and when she straightened back up she suddenly noticed someone standing right opposite her.

It was a boy in a dark grey hoodie and black jeans, standing on the other side of the road. He was simply watching her, and that was strange because she was quite sure there had not been anyone there just a second ago. He had flaxen hair the colour of a ripe wheat field and the most intense blue eyes – even from this distance, she could feel his icy gaze searing her. Those eyes were light blue, almost glacial.

He had very fair skin, perhaps even fairer than hers, and she was already rather pale from the lack of sunlight in Veldemore. He looked almost ghostly. But somehow, she knew right away that this person waiting opposite her was Kagamine Len – this was the person she had wanted to meet.

He held her gaze for a moment longer before he turned away, walking down the street. She hurried after him, jogging just a little to catch up, but he didn't slow down for her despite her calls for him to wait. Without thinking twice, she chased after him all the way until they reached another traffic light junction, a few blocks away from her school. It was only then that he finally stopped walking.

She had to catch her breath. The boy watched impassively as she inhaled, sweeping her hair out of her eyes. He was a really fast walker – in fact, he almost glided, his steps seeming to barely touch the ground. She noticed that the streets around them were particularly empty, and most of the houses around the area had their curtains drawn. She was starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable.

"You're Kagamine Len?" she asked, just to be sure. He nodded once, his icy gaze boring into her. She found herself unable to meet his eyes. "I'm here now. You said you could tell me about Mikuo, right?" she swallowed, wiping her hands on her long black pants. Her skin suddenly felt clammy.

"Yes, I can," he spoke for the first time, and she blinked, startled by the sound of his voice. There was a melodic lilt to it – every word was smooth and perfectly enunciated, a tone that was pleasant to the ears. She was suddenly reminded of the music she kept via her hidden tape collection. "What do you want to find out about your elder brother? There are many things I can say if you wish to know."

"Where is he now? Is he still alive?" she demanded, shaking aside the mesmerising effects of his voice. Kagamine Len paused, and then his lips curved into a smile. It wasn't a very reassuring smile, and she shivered, wriggling her toes in her shoes. She wasn't sure why, but the air around him seemed almost _cold_. She glanced around. There was still nobody in the vicinity. Everything seemed strangely silent.

"Yes, he is," he answered. "Hatsune Mikuo is held in the Kapitol's detention centre, where they will do all they can to rip away any shred of musicality or artistic interest in him and turn him into a productive member of society. I am afraid that he may not hold on for much longer, but it is not yet his time."

"Wait, what? Detention centre? Not hold on for much longer?" Miku tried to process everything the boy just said. "Who are you?" she exclaimed. "And how do I even know that what you're telling me is real? How do you know my brother?" She folded her arms across her chest. It was becoming unexpectedly chilly.

The boy smiled again. He had an icy beauty that was simultaneously fascinating and untouchable. She would not want to be anywhere near him, but at the same time, that smile sent a feeling of familiarity and comfort through her – she could imagine herself coming home to something warm and lovely, her eyes closing as she sank into blissful dreams. It was so close. She felt that yearning deep in her chest.

"Miku, I know everyone. I _am _everyone. I am the Reaper, and eventually everyone comes back to me," he leant closer to her. His breath was frigid against her cheek. "But it is not yet your brother's time. I am here now because you are the only one who can protect him, and I need you to help me right a wrong."


	3. Chapter 3

"The Reaper?" She scowled. "The entity which collects the souls of the dead and dying?" The boy gave her an almost imperceptible shrug, shifting his gaze away from her.

Her temper flared. After all the time she spent waiting for him to show up, after all the nervous anticipation she felt, this was what Kagamine Len had to say to her? "Do you think this is some kind of joke?" She raised her voice, balling up her fists at her sides. He didn't acknowledge or even seem to notice her outburst, which just irritated her even more. "This is my _brother_ we're talking about here! You can't just use him as a stupid punchline for your stupid joke!"

"I don't know why you would think it's a joke," he answered. He sounded almost bored, and she angrily thought about reporting this insensitive asshole to the Kapitol. "If you're one of the few in Veldemore who actually know of the Reaper, then you ought to have _some _level of intelligence."

"There's no such thing as the Reaper! It's just a fairy tale made up to scare little kids so they wouldn't stay out late at night. The Kapitol has already done research to prove that there's no life after death, and tall tales like this hold no basis in fact," she retorted, hoping that someone would soon appear and rescue her from this ridiculous conversation.

"No one's going to come." His abrupt statement startled her, and she stared at him, suddenly very uncertain. How did he know what had been on her mind? "If what you want is proof that I am who I say I am, then you can follow me and I'll show it to you. I promise that no harm will come to you as long as you do exactly as I say," he added, turning away from her before she could agree.

He drifted down the empty street, and she hesitated. As things were, following him would probably be a stupid mistake. But there was something in his voice, something about him that made her want to listen to what he had to say. Glancing around again, she took a deep breath and went after him, maintaining a cautious distance between them as he headed towards one of the houses nearby.

"What do you see?" He pointed to the house as she caught up with him. Narrowing her eyes, Miku studied the building. It was a fairly standard suburban house, decidedly middle-class. The walls were a pale, unassuming beige and the door was painted dark brown. The windows were covered by thick grey curtains. The lawn was uneven and the hedges were slightly overgrown. There were no flowers.

"It's a house. Not a very well-maintained one, though," she answered. He did not acknowledge her observation, reaching for the doorknob instead. Much to her surprise, the front door actually opened. He entered first while she hesitated at the threshold, wondering about the legality of this. She might be charged for trespassing, or even worse, breaking and entering. Kagamine Len looked back at her, his expression blank. He didn't move, and yet somehow his presence felt like a challenge.

He didn't have to ask whether she was coming in or not – his body language spoke for him. Her tongue darted out, barely wetting her lips. Carefully, she took a step inside, feeling the soft creak of old wood underneath her feet. As she entered the house, the front door swung quietly shut behind her, blocking off the faint light that had been streaming in from outside. She flinched.

"Where are we going? Entering other people's houses is against the law, you know. We could be charged in court," she whispered, keeping her voice as low as possible. The boy did not respond. She turned her attention towards the house itself, wondering who resided here and if they were home right now. The wooden floor planks were bare, and the house was covered in a dirty green wallpaper that reminded her of vomit. The air smelled faintly musty. She spotted a white vase in the hallway that held a bouquet of dried pink flowers, along with a hanging portrait of a stately old couple.

"This house belongs to a widow. Her husband passed away a few months ago from stomach cancer, and her own health has been ailing ever since. It is time," the boy suddenly spoke, making her jump. They paused at a doorway on the other end of the passage, and he glanced at her, his gaze cold.

Before she could say anything, he took a step over the threshold, and Miku could swear that she felt some unseen force pushing her into the room. The first thing she noticed was that the mustiness in the air felt far heavier in this room. It was a parlour, dimly-lit and almost claustrophobic. There was a rust-coloured fireplace at the far end of the room, covered in a fine layer of dust. In fact, everything here was dusty – from the windowsill to the coffee table to the two armchairs in front of the fireplace.

She recognised the elderly woman sitting in the left armchair. It was the same person whose portrait hung up in the walkway. She was holding a newspaper, her neck craned slightly forward, looking unseeingly straight ahead. Miku realised that it had been a long time since she last saw anything in print – most people had made the transition to digital news, so printed news was beginning to dwindle.

But what was most surprising was the fact that the old woman did not appear to notice them. She wasn't moving or blinking, she just sat there rooted in place. Miku wasn't sure if she was even breathing. Hesitantly, she waved her hand in front of the woman's face. There was no reaction.

Kagamine Len took a step closer to the old woman. "Watch," he said. He placed a hand on the old woman's shoulder, and almost immediately she slumped over, the newspaper falling from her hands.

Miku jumped back. "What did you do to her?" she demanded, her gaze flitting between Len and the collapsed woman. He looked so calm that she could almost convince herself that there was nothing wrong – but she glanced at the woman again and saw that she looked _dead_, her eyes wide open and fixed on the ceiling. The old woman's irises were so pale that the entire eye was practically white.

"I did what had to be done," the boy replied. He removed his hand, and Miku watched in shock as a wispy white trail followed his palm, connecting him to the unmoving body. The mist coalesced into a small, fragile butterfly, and it crawled across his outstretched finger, its white wings trembling. "You are free now, free from pain and misery. Go wherever you wish," the boy lowered his voice, and for once she could hear a tinge of emotion – he sounded tender. The butterfly fluttered its wings and rose, resting gently on his cheek, before it flew past them towards the closed window. Miku blinked, disbelieving as the white butterfly flew right through the wall into the world outside.

"Did you just…turn that woman into a butterfly?" She never once imagined that someday she would have to utter such a question. The boy smiled. It was the kind of smile that was both lovely yet intimidating – a combination she would never have thought possible before today. Again, she felt the urge to get closer to him, while another part of her desperately wanted to run as far away as possible.

"I didn't turn her into anything. Humans all have a form they take after they die, and my duty is to free them from their mortal shell once it expires," he answered. "Once free, they roam the world, doing as they please until it is time for them to be called back and reborn." He looked at the body resting in the armchair. "For someone who secretly resists the Kapitol's influence, you certainly do believe a lot of what they say," he remarked, slowly drifting out of the room. Miku gritted her teeth, equal parts stunned and annoyed. She had no idea how he knew about her innermost thoughts, but what he said about her wasn't wrong. Why did she immediately think that the Kapitol was right about the Reaper?

As she followed him out of the house, she kept her gaze fixed on his feet, and she noticed that his shoes just barely skimmed the surface of the floor. Glancing back at the parlour, she wondered if anyone would find the woman's corpse. She would have called the police herself to get them to visit the place, but she didn't want to answer any difficult questions such as what was her relationship with the deceased, or how she had known that the occupant of the house was dead.

She still wasn't entirely convinced about Kagamine Len, but there was definitely something not quite _human_ about him – she had witnessed his actions herself, and her own eyes couldn't possibly have deceived her. This boy, whoever he was, had the ability to make time and space stand still. Right in front of her, he had drawn _something_ out of the old woman, leaving her lifeless body behind.

"You said that Mikuo is currently being held in a detention centre, right? And that it's not his time yet. But if you can control when people pass on, then why do you need my help?" Miku asked once they were back in the open. The boy said nothing. Instead, he looked at the sky, studying the clouds that blanketed the town. It was a gloomy day, and it looked like it might start to rain soon.

"I will meet you another time, and we can talk more about it then." He lifted the hood of his sweater, covering his golden hair. "I have spent enough time as it is in the mortal realm. If the others realise that I have been talking to a human…" A shadow flitted across his face, and he fell silent. She wanted to press him for more information, but before she could open her mouth, the boy winked out of existence, and time unfroze itself. Suddenly, she could hear the sounds of traffic in the distance. A strong breeze picked up, and someone exited one of the houses ahead, carrying a black umbrella.

It was much warmer now. She shuddered, rubbing her hands against her exposed arms. The boy took all the chill with him when he left. She wondered if the cold was because of his association with death. Was he really the Reaper? Were the old tales really true? Fairy tales, myths and legends – these were all things the Kapitol suppressed, for they could not be proved with science or fact, and anything that was intangible and unprovable could not be allowed to distract the people from what was important.

But now she wasn't as sure. Maybe the stories were real, and there was a whole other world out there, where the witches and mermaids and fairies from the old legends roamed free and wild. Perhaps they were all hiding in Elysia, the land of plenty, where singing and dancing were not forbidden, and music and poetry flowed freely from people's lips.

Shaking her head, she decided to hurry home. She felt extremely uncomfortable in this place – the suburban lifestyle was foreign to her, and it felt much too exposed. The uniform houses were far from welcoming. She was used to the dingy, poverty-stricken street where she lived. Although crime ran rampant there and people were constantly going missing, to her that neighbourhood was home.

* * *

Miku climbed the rickety stairs towards her room, carefully keeping her footsteps light so that the wood wouldn't suddenly just give way and send her plunging to the ground floor. Once in her room, she placed her bag on the floor and fell back onto her bed, chewing thoughtfully on her bottom lip.

Kagamine Len said he would tell her more about her brother and the entire situation next time. But when would next time be? She had so many questions, and he was the only one who could provide the answers. She wanted to know how Mikuo was doing. If he still remembered them, if he still remembered _her_. What would she say to him if she saw him? It had been over a decade, and she was so little when he was taken away. He was five years older than her – a young man by now.

What the Reaper said about Mikuo made her uneasy. He mentioned that Mikuo may not be able to hold on for much longer…what did that mean? Was the Kapitol torturing him? She shuddered. It was an upsetting thought, but she wouldn't be surprised if they really did. Given the sheer number of people who disappeared in Veldemore every year, it would come as no shock to anyone if some of these people died as a result of the Kapitol's torture. It was said that those who were taken were used in human experiments as Kapitol scientists strived to reach the very limits of science and technology.

"Miku? May I come in?" She heard her mother's voice, followed by a timid knock. Miku made a sound of assent, and her mother entered her room, closing the door quietly behind her. She made a mental note to paint a new coat of colour over the door once she could afford to do so – it was starting to look rather dilapidated. "You were back late today. I was wondering if something happened."

She opened her mouth, wanting to tell her mother about her encounter with the mysterious boy and what he said about Mikuo – but then she changed her mind. Her mother was a middle-aged, frail woman whose face was worn down with worry. Her thin skin stretched taut over jutting bones. Her poor mother had enough troubles as it was, and she didn't need to know about a boy who may or may not be lying. Miku would figure out whether or not Len was telling the truth before saying anything about Mikuo to her mother.

"No, nothing happened. I just stayed behind in school today to do some work with Gumo and Gumi, that's all," she answered. Her mother nodded. She knew her mother liked the Nakajima twins since both of them were good at their studies and could quickly grasp concepts that Miku struggled with.

"Gumo is a very good boy. He visited yesterday, you know. While you were taking your nap. He said he and Gumi made some quick notes for your vectors module just in case you needed them." Her mother smiled. It was rare to see her smile, and Miku felt a sudden surge of guilt – she had always wondered if her academic incompetence was the main source of her mother's worries.

"Yeah, I know. They passed me the notes this morning." She exhaled. "Oh yeah Mum, one more thing – when will the Kapitol come to our district to collect the old earpieces? I heard they would come this weekend, but I didn't manage to catch the bulletin announcing our timeslot."

"Oh, they'll be here on Saturday morning," her mother answered. "Do you want to give me your earpiece? I can exchange it for you if you don't think you can wake up on time." She smiled again. It was a well-meaning offer, but Miku shivered, grabbing her thin pillow and hugging it to her chest. She still had yet to figure out a way to keep her old earpiece. She just knew she didn't want to hand it in.

"It's all right, I'll do it myself. I want to choose my own earpiece – I heard they might be giving out a limited edition pastel series, so I want to be there just in case," she answered. There had been no such rumour – everyone knew that the Kapitol always handed out standard equipment because any sign of individuality was frowned upon in Veldemore – but her mother nodded anyway. Miku was glad that her mother wasn't the kind to ask questions. She was too busy worrying about other things.

"Rest well then," her mother said. "You have a long week ahead of you. Your exams are coming up next month, aren't they? I hope you manage to get into Elysium," she continued, beaming at Miku. Miku grimaced and nodded back, her chest filled with cold dread. Elysium was the elite university in their town, and anyone who graduated from that place was more or less guaranteed a well-paid job with the Kapitol. However, Elysium was notoriously competitive, and it was close to impossible to secure a spot within the school without top grades.

Her mother did not react to her expression, leaving the room as quietly as she came. Miku lay back in bed and closed her eyes, thinking to herself. She couldn't forget that her parents were relying on her to take care of them as they aged – she had to ensure she got a good job so she could support them and hopefully give them a better life. But Kagamine Len and his mention of her older brother made her curious, and she couldn't help but want to find out more even if there was a risk it would distract her from her studies. What she should do then? If her brother really was suffering at the hands of the Kapitol, she couldn't possibly just turn a blind eye and ignore his plight.

Swallowing, she turned around and faced the wall, leaning her head against the cool surface. She tried to push this issue out of her mind. Until Kagamine Len told her more about the situation, it would probably be best not to think about it at all.


End file.
